Book excerpt: Reproductive Biology of Invertebrates Volume III Accessory Sex Glands Edited by K. G. Adiyodi Accessory Sex Glands is the third volume in the encyclopaedic series and provides very valuable information, some hitherto unpublished, on the distribution, structure, origin physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and evolution of the accessory sex glands in different groups of invertebrates. Volumes I and II of this series (published by Wiley) have given detailed accounts of the structure, origin, composition and physiology of female and male gametes and also provided some information on the mechanisms controlling their production. The secretions of accessory sex glands are indispensable for several key aspects of gamete physiology and for successful fertilization and development in many internally fertilizing invertebrates. Interestingly enough, accessory sex gland secretions are produced, in some species at least, under the influence of gonadotrophic hormones as are the gametes themselves. The data on invertebrate accessory sex glands are scattered in various journals and have not been so far collected, critically evaluated and published in book form. This volume thus fills a void and serves as an indispensable corollary and companion to the two volumes that have already appeared on gametology in the series. Contents: Series Preface Preface to Volume III Systematic Resume of the Invertebrates Platyhelminthes--Turbellaria, S.S. Guraya and V.R. Parshad; Nemertina, M. Gontcharoff; Gnathostomulida, Marlene Mainitz; Rotifera, John J. Gilbert; Gastrotricha, W.D. Hummon and M.R. Hummon; Nematoda, L.A. Fitzgerald and W. Eugene Foor; Acanthocephala, David W.T. Crompton; Mollusca, N.W. Runham; Annelida, K.G. Adiyodi; Onychophora, Hilke Ruhberg and Volker Storch; Arthropoda--Crustacea, K.G. Adiyodi and G. Anilkumar; Arthropoda--Insecta, Cedric Gillott; Arthropoda--Myriapoda, J.M. Demange; Pentastomida, John Riley. Species Index. Subject Index.